Sta/Medr/11/2025: Consistent performance measures for post-16 learning: Achievement, August 2023 to July 2024

Main points

General education (A levels)

• Grade outcomes remain higher than before the pandemic, but there was a decrease in the proportions of learners achieving at least three As and at least three Cs compared to 2022/23.
• There was a small increase in AS level completion and a small decrease in the proportion of learners who went onto their second year of A levels compared to 2022/23.
• Learners taking Mathematics, Chemistry, Physics and Biology were particularly likely to get high grades.
• Females had better outcomes than males in general education programmes, apart from learners achieving three A*s.
• 51% of female AS learners went on to achieve at least three Cs at A level, compared to 40% of male learners.
• 48% of 16 year old AS learners went on to achieve at least three Cs at A level, compared to 22% of older learners.
• Learners from deprived backgrounds were less likely to complete their A levels and less likely to get high grades if they did.
• Learners from Black, African, Caribbean, Black British or Black Welsh background generally had lower A level outcomes than other ethnic groups, but this was the only ethnic group to see an increase in achieving at least three As compared to 2022/23.

Vocational education

• Vocational outcomes at all programme levels improved in 2023/24. The recovery from the drop in outcomes following the coronavrius (Covid-19) pandemic continued and outcomes at levels 1 to 3 are now broadly in line with pre-pandemic figures.
• Completion and success rates for entry level vocational programmes are both 3 percentage points higher than pre-pandemic.
• The proportion of learners who did not complete their programme due to ‘Personal reasons’ has remained stagnant. Fewer learners did not complete their programme due to ‘Failure’.
• Learners who did not complete their programme due to ‘Other’ reasons saw an increase of 10 percentage points compared 2022/23.Vocational learners linked to experiences of deprivation had lower outcomes than those who were not, but the relationship was less strong than in general education.
• There was no gender/sex gap in success rates for vocational programmes.

Welsh Baccalaureate (Welsh Bacc)

• Outcomes for the Welsh Bacc were higher than 2022/23 for learners on general education and vocational programmes, except for the proportions of vocational learners achieving A*, A* to A and A* to B in the Skills Challenge Certificate, which were slightly lower or remained the same.

Summary of achievement measures by academic year, August 2022 to July 2024